AT THE BILTMORE ESTATE

Asheville, North Carolina

September 20th and 22nd

So this is what I have been working towards all ride season – making it to the National Championship in North Carolina, and the time is finally here! The Biltmore hosts an endurance ride one to two times per year and it has been on my “list” of rides, so what better year to go than when it is hosting the Nationals, right?! Woohoo, very exciting! Because I am planning on riding the 100-miler and it is a 1000-mile drive, I am going to take my time and split the drive up into three days so my horse doesn’t arrive travel-weary, and I want three full days prior to the 100-miler to acclimate, rest and check out the trails and enjoy the Estate. This is going to be a long adventurous trip… Woohoo!

Friday, Sept. 14th: Departure day; I am ready to hook up and load when, once again, the jack on my trailer decides to magically not work – same old *&^ – will go up but won’t come down… really? Again? But I fixed this on my last trip to CO and it has worked fine for the last two months! WT…?! Sigh… three hours later and a new solenoid and wiring, I am on the road slightly past 12 noon with the first stop just short of 400 miles in Hazen, Arkansas.

We pulled in to our overnight stables as dark was setting in with some drizzle. There was a mix-up on the reservation and someone arrived prior to me, so they got the pasture turnout… so my horses got the round pen. Oh well, at least they are not locked up in a stall after traveling and the farm is beautiful and the people very nice. Tomorrow is a short travel day of just over 300 miles to Fairview, Tennessee.

Saturday, Sept. 15th: Tennessee is gorgeous!! Just beautiful… another great overnight place with plenty of pasture and beautiful weather. We had plenty of daylight left so I enjoyed sitting outside watching my horses relax before making dinner and turning a movie on. Tomorrow, Ashville, NC! Yippee!!

Sunday, Sept. 16th:Tennessee really is beautiful, but I’ve been traveling through this very long State for two days; I’m ready to be there and I’m positive the horses are. We started on our last leg of the trip with less than 400 miles to go, but the last 100 miles it was sloowww with rain, winding up and down highways and tunnels. We arrived at the Biltmore Estate late afternoon, early evening and we were the first to arrive in ride camp. The rider manager, Cheryl Newman, pointed us in the right direction and explained all the flagging, ribbons, etc. in regard to where to park. I got the horses settled into their nice half-acre paddock with plenty of grass and set up camp. The horses look fabulous, as if they just went for an easy one-hour trailer ride – perfect! We are here!! In North Carolina! For Nationals! Awesome!

Day one of camping

The next two days it rained and rained and rained and poured and rained some more… this gave me an opportunity to check out the Estate, taste their wine, eat their food, and catch up on movies! Some riders came in on Tuesday, but most came in on Wednesday. There were two other central region riders there to do the 100-miler and all three of us from Texas, so it was nice to see familiar faces. There is one downside here… absolutely no cell service for AT&T so I had to drive to the “town” area about 15-20 minutes away to make calls, check e-mail, etc. But, hey, who’s complaining?! I’m at the Biltmore!!

The skies finally cleared and dried up on Wednesday – thank goodness! I was getting quite worried about the trail conditions for Thursday… still was actually, but at least it had stopped. I have never seen so much rain – and I’ve never seen it dry up so fast either. Even with all of the traffic coming and going, the ground held up for the most part. Wednesday evening entailed the 100-mile ride meeting with all the details of the ensuing day. Kenlyn Pristine vetted in great with all A’s and looking full of energy as usual. Off to bed early – tomorrow is going to be a long, long day! So excited!!

Thursday, September 20th: 6:30 a.m., we are off on our first loop of 15 miles. It was a “controlled” start – hmmmm… this is what SE riders call a controlled start? Really? Trotting, passing – that’s controlled? Interesting. All was well though, no crazy antics or anything. There were close to 50 starters in the 100-miler and there was just a hint of lightness on the horizon when we started, a little fog, and plenty of dew from the humid air and wet ground. We finished the first loop in an hour and 45 minutes, vetted through with all A’s except for a B on gut and we were somewhere mid pack.

Photo by Becky Pearman

After a 40-minute hold, Pristine and I were off on our second loop of 17 miles. The weather is just great, the first loop is out of the way, and now it’s time to really enjoy the ride! We settled in with two other riders, Bob Walsh and fellow Texan Amanda Fant. The scenery here is absolutely gorgeous, the weather is perfect, and the ride very well organized with trails marked perfectly! Pristine feels AMAZING – this is going to be such a great, great ride! It’s surreal.

And then it happened. Again? No… really? Oh, yes, that really just happened.

We were at approximately mile marker 12, headed down hill. I was leading our “pack” at the time and as the trail curved to the right, there was a very large tree blocking our view of the multiple rutted out tree roots that we were about to be ontop of… it felt as if someone took Pristine’s front legs and yanked them out from under her. In slow/fast motion, her knees went to the ground as her hind legs scrambled to stay upright, her nose dove into the ground in front of her, and eventually her belly went down and slid with an oomph. I’m still in the saddle, feeling the ground underneath me and the roll of Pristine’s belly up against me and the embankment of the trail. She got up a little faster than I got up and she began to trot off, slowly at first, looking left and right, as if to say “What just happened?” And then, in usual independent Pristine fashion, she took off! OMG OMG OMG – I just traveled all the way to North Carolina to lose my horse on the second loop of the 100-mile National Championship… this has to be a dream!

After reassuring the other two riders that I was okay and, graciously, Bob riding ahead a little ways to see which way Pristine headed, they took the right-hand turn on trail and I followed Pristine’s path to the road, hoping she would be just around the corner grazing or something ridiculous. When I got to the road, there was no sight of her, but only a couple of minutes passed before a driver came by and picked me up (she just happened to be a spotter headed to her “post”). She dropped me off at the “Big Rock” where the next spotter who was already communicating with management about the accident. She pointed me in the direction of where Pristine ran and I was on foot again. A Biltmore security guard then stopped me and went on ahead to see if he could find Pristine. Stagg Newman then came by as he had also been informed of what had happened. Amazing communication going on here – they were really on top of things! It was quite impressive! Pristine had made it to another spotter at a bridge on a completely different trail where she was eventually caught. After Stagg watched her trot for me and gave me instructions on how to get back to the spot where she fell, we were back in the ride and continuing on. This 17-mile loop turned into a 25-mile, 3+ hour loop… we went from 17th place to dead last by 30 minutes. Wow. Oh, well, there’s a lot of day left.

Photo by Becky Pearman

An interesting note here is that I later found out the particular place my horse fell down is a notorious spot where several horses and well-known international riders had fallen before… would’ve been nice to know that beforehand. I got to be the lucky next one to “happen” upon it.

Pristine vetted through with A’s and we had just a 40-minute hold before going onto our third loop, which was 20 miles. Maybe I can make up a little time and catch up with someone – company would be nice to have for both of us right now. This 20-mile loop took FOREVER!! Eat, eat, trot, eat, trot, eat, walk… nearly 4 hours later, we were back in camp with an hour hold. Although we had done approximately 60 miles, we had 50 miles left to go. And she really wasn’t liking the downhills – hesitating and taking short steps. She just was not herself. She vetted through great with all A’s and a CRI of 64/60, but I was not convinced. I told the vets of my concerns and I was reassured that she looked great and was not sore anywhere. I was also beginning to get very concerned about time… it was going to be getting dark soon and I had three full loops to go yet, 50 more miles with most of it being through the night, the slow portion of a 100-miler. Everyone kept saying, “You’re doing good – you have plenty of time.” Me: You are all crazy. But, I didn’t come all this way to quit…

Apparently, my crazy-logic caught up with everyone else because as I was sitting and resting before heading back out, the

Photo by Becky Pearman

ride manager and two vets, one of which was the head vet, came over to talk to me about what they called “Plan B.” I heard something I have never, ever heard in the endurance world (or should I say, AERC world)… “you don’t come to Nationals just to complete.” What? Say that again… Me: Oookaay, well, when you travel 1000 miles one-way and spend umpteen amounts of money, not to mention all the money and time spent throughout the year planning and preparing for this one trip, you absolutely DO go to JUST complete! I just found that a little mind boggling… probably very true for the international, FEI-type competitor, but… and hey, I’m competitive (okay, conservative competitive), but…that’s just not the mindset right now given the circumstances. No hard feelings, just thought that was interesting.

Anyway, so they told me my horse looked great and that if I would “Rider-Option” out of the 100, they would offer me an entry in the 50-miler two days later; basically, call it a day, save my horse the extra miles, and try again for better luck in the 50. I thought that was a very generous offer and after some thought, I decided it was the best choice and was thankful for the option.

Friday, September 21st: To make an already long story a tad shorter, my soft tissue soreness set in at 24 hours and worse at 48 hours; I have felt better after 100 miles, way better. But I didn’t come to NC to go home empty-handed, so I vetted Pristine in for the 50-miler and went back to the trailer to get ready for Saturday. While I was grooming and loving on Pristine, I found her girth area had some gouges and swelling where she fell, and she had some back and hamstring tightness from the fall as well. I knew something was wrong. I really don’t want to go home empty-handed but I am not going to put her through 50 more miles if she is not up for it. And I am okay with this. It wasn’t her fault, it wasn’t my fault, it was just bad luck. I would rather go home with a healthy and sound horse, mentally and physically, and make the next ride than to risk hurting her after all she has done for me. I know she was ready and I prepared her perfectly for the task at hand – sometimes crap happens and it really was just plain ‘ol bad luck; no one is exempt from that! It was still a great experience to ride at the Biltmore Estate and I met some great new people. Maybe someday I’ll make it back there with better luck and success. I’m going home with a healthy and sound horse and I’m intact as well, so life goes on and the next ride goes on… hopefully I’ll y’all there!

Kenlyn Pristine & Deal's Midas Moon – ready to head home to Texas!

I found out a very inspiring story about my mishaps on that Thursday. Apparently, the three spotters that were there to help me and to witness which direction my horse went were not supposed to be there. They had been scheduled to man their posts an hour and a half early and the person in charge of this was going to tell them, but decided to just leave it the way it was. Had that driver not been on her way to her post, she would not have picked me up. Had the next spotter not been at the “Big Rock,” she would not have seen which direction my horse went. Had the final spotter and the one who eventually caught Pristine not been at the bridge, who knows where Pristine would have ended up… I do believe in guardian angels – I hope they stay with me! ☺

SANGRE SCENIC PIONEER

Westcliffe, Colorado

July 27^th, 28^th & 29^th

Sangre Scenic Pioneer has been in my radar for months in advance, but it was literally the day prior to leaving before I knew I would be able to load up the horses and head north.  The important logistics of 1) horse care for the ones at the farm; and 2) proper eagle eyes for the kiddos left at home.  I was able to secure horse care one week prior to my estimated departure date, and kiddos (my two human boys, that is) were in proper care two days prior… Yahoo, I really get to go!!  Oh, one more thing, for some reason, the gooseneck on my trailer has shifted lower and is colliding with the bed of my truck, so I need to get that raised, find an overnight horse motel to split the trip up into two days, and of course, pack, pack, pack!  No problemo!  Haha… when I went to hook up the trailer, the jack would raise up but would not retract down.  Uhoh.  This isn’t good.  This trailer-fixing endeavor started Friday – I am planning to depart first thing Monday.  To make a long story shorter, it finally got fixed Monday evening right at 5:00 p.m.  My own wired frequencies were all over the place on where to place my energy; am I going; am I not going… do I load the trailer; do I wait so I don’t have to unload it should everything not work out.  Decisions, right?!

Somehow, it all got put together, and I was on the road with the horses in tow at 12:09 p.m. Monday.  First stop, a horse motel just short of Amarillo, TX.  I really didn’t like the idea of traveling in 102-degree heat with the horses, but… at least we’re on our way and it was just over 5 hours for the first leg of travel.  At 6:25 p.m., horses are settled and I am headed to the trailer to shower, eat and go to bed when I notice one of my rear tires looks a little low.  I take a closer look – really?  The inside tire was completely flat (dually).  Well, no one is open at 6:25 in the evening right?  There goes my early 6 a.m. departure… US Rider… need I say more?  Well, they couldn’t do anything that night because I needed to actually purchase a tire (my spare is as old as the truck and I don’t have the key to the lock anyway), so someone was on their way first thing in the morning.  The positive:  At least I noticed it, right?

Wednesday, 10:30 a.m., I am FINALLY loaded and leaving for Westcliffe, Colorado.  The horses are pouting; they did eat their supper, but refuse to eat breakfast and have hardly drank anything – not good.  We have approximately 6 ½ to 7 hours ahead of us.

Oh, Colorado, so, so beautiful!!  As soon as we hit Raton Pass, the temperature dropped to 81 degrees and continued to drop, all the way down to 53 degrees as we went through a thunderstorm (of course, this thunderstorm was right when I was in the middle of no where, looking for my turn – you  know, the kind of road that you cannot possibly turn a rig around if you miss your turn)… the rain cleared and here we are – Music Meadows Ranch. Pictures do not do the view justice, BUT the pictures speak for themselves here… spectacular.

After a long while trying to fit my rig through the narrow gate to camp up on a hill, the ride manager decided to put me below next to the vet check.  I maneuvered that trailer forward and backward all over the place including several different directions.  Oh well, no camping neighbors, but I’m right next to the vet check – I wonder how many people I am going to piss off?  Not the best way to make new friends in CO for the girl from TX.

The horses still did not drink all day in the trailer outside of a sip if you can call it that while in Raton.  As soon as I got them set up in camp though, they sucked the water down and dove into their food.  Silly horses.  Bedtime came early for me – around 8-ish and did I sleep… ahhh.  No need for air conditioning, just the breeze through the windows.

Thursday, July 26^th:  What a beautiful morning – sweatshirt and jeans! It’s the little things. The horses are real wired today; Pristine pushing and herding California around in her usual mare way.  They didn’t care for any breakfast and were cold this morning – I will blanket tonight.  I took them both out for a short ride.  Pristine pranced – apparently forgot what walk means (she doesn’t prance) and California pranced as well… I guess I don’t blame them; it is hard not to thoroughly love this cooler weather!  Some more people have shown up and I am waiting for the pre-vet procedures to begin…

Friday, July 27^th, 7:00 a.m.:  It is nice to start a ride after the sun is fully up… and it’s quite cool – 55 degrees!  Awesome!  Pristine is prancing about in her warm-up, but overall listening quite well.  The loop orders are:  15 miles, pulse down and trot by, another 15 miles; one hour hold; 15 miles; one hour hold; and then 10 miles for a total of 55 miles.  Nice to have the one-hour holds!

On the first loop, I was in the front (not on purpose mind you) with two other riders.  We came up on the first cattle gate and after others discussing who would open it, I offered to do it.  One of the riders with us offered to hold my horse for me and I thought that would be a good idea to give me both hands with the cattle ranch type gates… I also had that little voice that I’m supposed to listen to telling me, I don’t think that’s a good idea.  I didn’t listen.  The top wire caught on the second wire and when I pulled to attach the handle, it made a loud pop and Pristine pulled back as the rider’s horse pulled in the opposite direction… away Pristine went – away into the horizon.  Really, did that seriously just happen?!  What a way to start off this weekend.  At this point, some other riders had come through the gate; three riders went after Pristine while three others walked with me for a while, which was very, very nice of them.  I think the rider that she got away from felt bad, but I fully know and hope I relayed to him that it was not his fault at all.  Having never been in this area or done this trail before, I’m looking at the beautiful mountains, wondering where and how far she would go – will I find her today?  Will she get hurt?  Did I just drive all the way to Colorado to loose my horse on the first day? This is the first time I have ever lost a horse on trail before (at a ride that is).  Approximately 20 minutes later, one of the riders in front of me had caught Pristine – thank heavens, we are actually going to get to continue!!

The rest of the day went quite smoothly.  We started to catch back up and pass other riders.  She was very forward, yet calm and she opened gates the rest of the day without so much as a bat of the eye.  She came in 3^rdplace and first Lightweight with a ride time just under 7 hours.  Yay!  She took care of herself all day, eating and drinking well and looks great to go again tomorrow and I am hoping she will not be the prancing fire-breathing dragon in the morning!

Kenlyn Pristine stealing a bite of hay before heading back out

I have to mention here what awesome management and ranch host there is here at Music Meadows Ranch – they have home-made dinners and deserts for us every night as well as a sandwich/salad bar every afternoon with cold cuts, cheese and fresh cut veggies… absolutely fantastic and such a treat!!

Saturday, June 28^th, 7:00 a.m.:  I discovered a little girth problem this morning – Pristine had a little swelling under her armpit areas – no actual rub, but there is some swelling.  Should I ride?  Should I wait and go Sunday?  Crap.  After talking to the vet as well as a fellow rider, I decided to lather her up with Desitin and go for it.  She started off forward but calm; she felt as if this were her first day without all the extra antics!  Yay!  This is going to be a great day!

The loop order today is 15 miles, pulse down and trot by, 10 miles; one hour hold; 15 miles; one hour hold, and then 10 miles for a total of 50 miles.  Toward the end of our first 15 miles, just inside the last gate, I noticed the saddle was loose, but I left it alone because I purposely didn’t want it real tight due to her girth soreness.  Besides, I ride all the time with a loose girth and obviously it had not made a difference so far this morning.  When I went to mount, the saddle slipped – really slipped – again, that inner voice saying uhhh, maybe you should do some adjustment here – did I listen?  Of course not… I slung myself up there anyway, slamming myself into the saddle (a treeless).  Apparently, that didn’t go over well with Pristine.  Even though I managed to straighten the saddle as she is taking off at a dead run, I couldn’t stay with the bucking she decided to throw at me… REALLY?!    So now I am now walking into camp while Pristine is once again showing me her rear side, going into camp without me.  Pristine to me: “Don’t underestimate the things that I will do.”  Me to Pristine: “WTF !@#&%”

This one took me a while to get up from.  I hit on my back towards the right side.  Mind you, I don’t come off often, but when I do, it tends to be really bad… and Pristine always seems to really hurt me.  After I walked into camp, retrieved my horse, pulsed down and trotted by, we headed back out to where she dumped me to repeat the section we didn’t do together, and then we headed out on the remaining 10 miles before our hour hold.  Pristine feels no worse for the wear, but I on the other hand am hurting quite badly – it hurts to breath, trotting doesn’t feel so great, and the gates are now getting to be really taxing.  This little incident put us a solid hour behind where we were, which was at the rear anyway.  After our hour hold, I decided to call it a day as I was having a really hard time just taking her saddle off and then back on.  I had a really hard time with this decision as “quit” and “can’t” are just not in my vocabulary, but I couldn’t fathom the idea of 25 more miles on this bitch of a pony I have this weekend… and the gates… ugh.

I slept the rest of the afternoon, fed the horses, and went back to bed for the rest of the night.  Every little move is a chore and hurts; breathing, coughing, laughing, blowing my nose… packing is going to be difficult.  I am quite emotional over the episodes of this weekend.  I am embarrassed and disappointed.  Embarrassed for such ridiculous antics from my mare and disappointed because all I wanted to do was enjoy the weather and scenery and three days of riding.  I didn’t care to race, just wanted to enjoy.  I will now crawl back to hot Texas with my tail between my legs and “think” about what to tweak in my training program.  Poor California… no riding for him again thanks to his PPPP partner.  <sigh>

Music Meadows Ranch entrance

Next Destination:  Kanopolis Canyon over Labor Day weekend… maybe

CAMP CARL ENDURANCE RIDE

Lake Carl Blackwell – Stillwater, Oklahoma

June 30, 2012 – 50 miles

Friday, June 29th:  The boys (my human sons, Patrick and Jack) and I headed north toward Stillwater, Oklahoma for a fun weekend of camping and riding.  Well, they don’t ride, but they camp! Lake Carl Blackwell has some great equestrian facilities with electric hook-ups and a water spickett as well as picnic table at each campsite, and the lake is just a short walk away to go swimming.  The boys, horses and I settled into camp – figured out how to set up the awning – yay – and the boys and I went to the lake for a short while to do a little swimming.  It’s entirely too hot out, but a little lake fun helps out!

The plan is to ride Kenlyn Pristine in the 50-miler.  California is along for moral support as he was hurt just a few days prior and his wounds need doctoring.

The boys and I had fun hanging out with friends camped next door to us and we learned a new board game!  I was off to bed early as we had a 4 a.m. start time.  At least my intentions were good.  I don’t know if I was worried I would repeat the little mishap at Llano Estacado two weeks prior, but I was awake at 1:54, 1:56, 1:58, 2:25 a.m., etc… of course, between these little 2-minute intervals, it felt like it had been much, much longer.  So, I decided just to get up and drink coffee.

Saturday, June 30^th, 4 a.m.:  The loop order is:  Pink, Pink, Pink… of course, the first loop is entirely in the dark with very few glow sticks.  It was a bit nerve racking to me.  I stayed with a long group of riders, hoping the person in front knew where they were going!  There is no way I would have been able to follow the trail in the pitch-black dark!  We were able to complete the first loop in two hours.  Halleluja, that one is over!  When we came in, there was no in-timer and no vet – what the?!  And we had a large group of riders all together with a 45 minute hold… this is not good.  By the time we got through the vet check, we only had 15 minutes to eat, electrolyte… blah, blah, blah… so I spent an extra 10 minutes.  I am in no hurry, just a conditioning 50 for my girl – it’s all good!

On the second loop, Pristine and I caught up with the 3^rd and 4^th place runners and we rode together through that loop and we were all out together at the same time for the third and final loop.  When we stopped for the first of three tokens (each loop had these), we all got our tokens and for some reason Pristine was ready to go – and I mean GO!  She felt so very strong and kept a forward pace through the finish, coming in 3^rd place with a finish time of 5:06, 22 minutes behind the first two.  Her scores were just as great with a CRI of 52/48!!

What do you do when you’re done riding 50 miles at 10:30 a.m.?? Which, by the way, is a very good feeling albeit sort of weird.  The boys and I headed to the lake for a little swimming, and then watched a movie, quite the lazy hot afternoon.  The boys stayed up with our neighbors and played some more games while I showered and crashed for the night.  The next morning, bright and early at 6:30 a.m., I packed up camp, woke the kids up and headed back to Texas.  It was a great, successful weekend, and I am now looking forward to my non-horse vacation next week!

Kenlyn Pristine

Note:  There were no official ride pics because the photographer got stuck on a four-wheeler and spent the day trying to get unstuck… not the best way to spend a hot summer day in Oklahoma.

Next stop:  Sangre Scenic Pioneer – Westcliffe, CO – hopefully CA will be ridden… eventually!!

LLANO ESTACADO – LAKE MEREDITH

June 16^th & 17^th 2012

June 15, 2012:  Kenlyn Pristine, Deals Midas Moon and I headed northwest to Lake Meredith north of Amarillo for two days of riding some of my favorite trails.  I had not been to Llano Estacado since… I’d have to look it up; it’s been at least two years, probably more like three years.  This ride site has some history and memories for me with one particular year being “stuck” there for four days due to flooding rain that kept us all in the valley-like camp ground, unable to get out.  This ride used to be held toward the end of September and in the last three years has been moved to June.  And there have been many improvements made over the last decade with not only road work, but now the addition of covered picnic tables and a permanent bathroom.  The trails are absolutely gorgeous.  If you have ever been in the Amarillo/Dumas, Texas area, you know the terrain is, well, flat.  Not at Lake Meredith though.  As you enter the park, you drop down into a valley with canyon-like formations.  Very pretty.

After getting a semi late start on Friday morning, we arrived in camp around 3:30 p.m.  It had rained quite a bit in the days prior including Thursday night so the ground was boggy and it was humid.  I set up camp rather quickly and was able to get Kenlyn Pristine vetted just prior to the ride meeting.  The forecast called for near 100-degree temps but not more rain.  The plan was to ride Kenlyn Pristine Saturday in the 50-miler and then Deals Midas Moon Sunday in the 50-miler.  The loop order was to do 20 miles, 10 miles and then 20 miles.  They put the 10-mile loop in the middle because it did not have any water available on it other than one trough about a mile out of camp and they didn’t want the last loop of 50 miles to be “dry” in the heat of the day.

June 16^th; 6:00 a.m.:  There were 26 starters in the 50 with 24 finishers.  Kenlyn Pristine and I started out toward the front with four other riders.  It was a bit of a yo-yo for me as we would move out on the flat and then drop back to slow down on the hills, only to catch back up with the other four on the flat… she didn’t care much for the “easy girl” on the hills part, but she listened fairly well, or at least my hands weren’t too blistered!  All five of us came in off the first 20 miles about the same time in approximately two and a half hours.  I was a bit trepid about the pulse criteria of 60 beats/minute with the temps, but I was pleasantly surprised that she pulsed down quickly.

On the next ten miles, there were three of us up front and this was a technical 10 – with no water.   Well, approximately one mile outside of camp, there was a trough, but of course my horse didn’t care much for that as she just left camp.  It was warming up fast and the loop took us an hour and 40 minutes – with no water.  My mare tanked up really well, but when you’re giving electrolytes and there is no water offered and it’s getting hot… well, not the best-case scenario.  She took a little longer to meet criteria, but she vetted through great.  The other two riders pulsed down at the same time, so we were all out for the last 20 miles at the same time.

Kenlyn Pristine

This last 20 was hot, hot, hot.  The three of us rode together in its entirety and it overall took three hours.  I got off to walk some of the steep hills – I figured if we are walking, I might as well get off to walk and help my horse out.  My legs begged to differ with that idea and on the last hill, I didn’t quite make it to the top before I had to get back on… maybe I should do more cross-training, eh?!!

Kenlyn Pristine on the last loop

About 1.5 to 2 miles out from the finish, the other two riders decided they were going to race for first.  Because they were both in the featherweight division and I am already getting first for lightweight, I chose not to take that “extra” out of my horse (in addition to racing 50’s not being my goal this year and, thus, not benefiting in the “big picture”), so I stayed back much to my horse’s dismay – I think she wasted just as much energy holding her back as she would have if I had just let her race in!!  I ended up coming in three minutes after the other two for a 3^rd place finish and first Lightweight!  Yay!!  It was a hot, hard ride (hard for us flat-landers) and I am very, very proud of my little purple pony – she is a tough girl.

I, on the other hand, was exhausted!!  I did not take good care of myself – I felt great during the ride, but later crashed pretty hard.  I tried something different and that is a new “electrolyte” replacement that is low-sodium but loaded in B vitamins.  I know better than that but now I really know.  Also, the thought of food made me nauseous and I should have forced myself to eat, but I really had no desire to.  I strictly drank protein drinks and the new drink… not so smart.

I vetted in Deals Midas Moon for Sunday, ate dinner and went to bed, albeit later than I should have as I was busy talking with my new neighbors.

June 17^th; 6:00 a.m.:  I have just opened my eyes at 6:00 on the dot… what time is it?  Crap – I start at 6:00 a.m.  Why didn’t my alarm go off?!  I scramble out of bed and while I am trying to get my brain cells going, I am indecisive on whether to start the coffee first or feed the horses.  What do I do?  If you are not checked in by start time, you don’t get to start.  Should I try to switch to the 30-miler and at least get some conditioning done?  They start at 6:30 a.m.  I really need some coffee… definitely need some coffee.

Tow Truck

I stepped out of my trailer to find mud, mud, mud.  It had rained and hailed during the night and it was a mess!!  Rain wasn’t in the forecast!  Maybe it was an excuse, but I decided the trails are going to be a mess… and I’m tired.  I’m really tired.  I’ll just take Deals Midas Moon out for a 20-mile loop later after it dries a little – at least he will get ridden.

I proceeded to drink a whole pot of coffee, take a nap, put on my mud boots and start packing up to go home.  I might as well go home and not waste a whole day driving home on Monday.  Many people were doing the same and quite a few people were stuck and acquired the help of a tow truck.  I was blocked in by other rigs being pulled out, so I waited, and waited, and waited.  Around 1 p.m., I had a clearing and figured it was dry enough for me to pull myself out since I have 4WD.  That didn’t go so well so I recruited the help of a gentleman who looked like he would do a better job than I was doing – I don’t use 4WD very much!  After a lot of work, he was able to get it out without the help of the tow truck so all was good and we were on our way home.  And I’m still tired!  In fact, it took me about three days to get over this one – I will definitely do better next time!!  Although I am very disappointed in myself for not waking up and not taking care of myself, I am very, very proud of my mare again for giving me a great ride on Saturday!

Kenlyn Pristine keeping an eye out post ride

Next stop:  Camp Carl at Lake Carl Blackwell in Stillwater, Oklahoma on June 30^th.  See you there!!

Photo by John Nowell

OLD GLORY – LAKE WACO, TEXAS

May 26-27, 2012 

The “Old Glory” ride this year was held over Memorial weekend at a new location, Lake Waco.  Temperatures were hot, in the 90’s, and the winds were strong.  We got a bit of a late start on Friday, finally leaving the barn at 10:30 a.m. and, as expected, traffic was a bit horrendous on Friday and our usual three-hour drive turned out to be 4 hours.  This is the first trip in the “new” trailer and my boys (as in children, not geldings) were along for the trip AND two of their friend.  Hmmmm…. four boys ages 10-12 – what was I thinking?  But… dancing here… I have a shower and toilet now!  WOOHOO!!!  No more kitty litter for me!

Ok, so the plan was to ride Kenlyn Pristine in the 50 Saturday and, if I felt it was not too terribly hot and zapping, I would ride Deals Midas Moon in the 50 on Sunday.

Well, Saturday didn’t go so well.  In fact, it sucked.  We started at 6:30 a.m. and a handful of us missed a left turn immediately out

Kenlyn Pristine @ Old Glory 50-miler, 2012 – Photo by John Nowell

of camp, so we followed ribbons (which by the way were extremely hard to see as they were a light lavender and of the scarce amount of ribbon out there, many were tucked back into the trees, making them even more difficult to see).  Well, since the ribbons were on our right, we had not realized we missed anything and kept on for 40 minutes before realizing something was wrong.  Thank goodness, someone had a phone and called into camp and we found out we missed a turn way back at the beginning, so…. back to camp to restart on the correct trail. Pristine then lost a rear shoe.  I noticed she was moving a little “different” and a friend noticed a shoe on trail (not mine), so I looked down and sure enough, only one rear shoe.  The problem with this is that Pristine has wedges on her rear feet, so she is now way lopsided with one wedge and one flat barefoot… that can’t be good.   We ended up doing close to 30 miles rather than the correct 20 miles on our first loop.  Pristine didn’t check in so great – she uncharacteristically took a while to reach pulse criteria and she ended up with quite a few B’s in her vet check.  Not good.  So now I decided to try to find someone who could pull her other rear shoe to at least make her even, and then see how she does in her one-hour hold before deciding whether or not to continue on.  We did have 30 miles to go yet and it was getting really hot fast.  I didn’t like the way she was looking.

Kenlyn Pristine coming into camp after many lost miles… Photo by John Nowell

I did find someone who had tools to pull her other shoe, but this particular person had a bit to desire in horsemanship because after he grabbed her rear foot with no warning/cue that he was going to ask for her foot and when she pulled her foot away, he proceeded to reprimand her with a swift kick to her belly… well, that’s not going to work.  Then, I was given the choice of trying one more time or drugging her.  What?!  Are you serious?  Doesn’t that defeat the point of continuing on?  At this point, Pristine wouldn’t let him near her, and I don’t blame her one iota… so I pulled her and called it a day.  It just wasn’t her day; it happens.

The boys by the way are doing GREAT – completely being self-efficient.  They entertained themselves by going to the lake and playing on the playground, playing video games in the trailer and watching movies.  They also found a couple of new friends… perfect!  The trailer is a disaster, but everyone is happy!

Jack and friends, Trever and Zachary, headed to the lake (Patrick stayed "home" for this round) – Photo by John Nowell

So, Sunday, Deals Midas Moon (aka California) will do the 25.  It’s too hot and I’m not up for it.  Sunday morning, I was asked to sponsor a junior and I gladly said yes.  California was trembling before I even tied him up to be saddled; I guess he has figured out that he is the second-day horse… that didn’t take him long.  I also did not wait for everyone to leave camp this time and decided to see how well he would warm up with everyone.  He did pretty good, a little prancing, side-stepping, etc.  He looked really dressage-like – too bad I wasn’t asking him to do those moves.  We started towards the rear and settled in behind a couple of riders going about 5-6 mph… perfect warm-up.  After a couple of miles, we decided to go on as this was a bit slow for him.  Since I fully knew the purple trail by now, we enjoyed doing it the correct way and it took us just an hour and a half to do the 15 miles.  California even pulsed faster

Deal's Midas Moon @ Old Glory 25-miler, 2012 – Photo by John Nowell

than he normally does… great – he’s finally settling his nerves!  Yay!

California even ate during his hold time… awesome! The next loop was 10 miles and just a couple of miles into it, I hear my junior say, “I lost my stirrup.”  You what?  My mind immediately started trying to figure out what I had on me that would work to tie it back on… and I’m wondering if we are going to have to head back to camp if we cannot.  I don’t have anything.  The good news, she had break-away stirrups so no problem, just a 10-minute delay.  Unfortunately, during this time several people passed us.  It’s 25 miles, it’s training, no worries.  At least we can continue on, right?!

So we cruised through the last 10 miles with a finish time just short of 3 hours, which I was very impressed with.  We would have been closer to 5^th/6^th or 7^th, somewhere in there if we had not lost those 10 minutes, but… it’s 25 miles, it’s training, no worries!  My junior and her awesome family crew got her into 9^th place whereas I came through the P&R at 12^th place.  It’s 25 miles, it’s training, no worries, right?!  I do wonder what goes through some people’s minds and their thought process though… hmmm… principles anyone – ???  Just saying.  At the end of the day, though, I am very, very proud of my boy – he is going to be a great endurance horse!

Next stop:  Llano Estacado at Lake Meredith north of Amarillo, Texas on June 16 & 17th 2012